I recently had a hybrid solar system installed with a LuxPower hybrid inverter and two us3000c Pylontech batteries. The system worked perfectly and decided to purchase and add another us3000c Pylontech battery of exactly the same spec.

So I started by switching off the Isolator switch and also the switch on the inverter and disconnecting everything.  I then put the new battery in the top of the stack to make it the Master. Connected the batteries in Parallel but left the power cables from the inverter and data cable unconnected.

So I had previously waited for the current two batteries to be fully charged.  I then turned the batteries on in order from the Master to the last battery.  The batteries have an LED light which has 'RUN' underneath and a set of six light with an triangle underneath to indicate state of charge.  All six state of charge lights where full lit on the current batteries.

I then pressed the SW Run button on the new Master battery.  This new battery had two LED lights lit on the state of charge. On the two current batteries each LED light on the RUN started to flash and on the new battery the RUN Led light was fully lit. So seems like it had started the balancing successfully.

I left it running over night. In the morning all the lights were out except the RUN led light on each battery including the new master battery was flashing, alternating between each  of three batteries.

I then turned the batteries back off, reconnected everything. The positive power inverter cable to the Master's other positive connection and the negative inverter to the last battery on the negative connection. I then connected the data cable from the inverter to the rs485.  (The battery also had an option for CAN, which online videos seem to use. But since the inverter was originally connected to the rs485 port by the installers I added it back to the same one).

After switching everything on the battery LED lights remain unlit and the inverter asks 'Add a battery?'.  So my question is should I try to enter the settings on the inverter again or maybe try pressing the SW Run button on the master again with everything including the inverter connected. Or should I try the CAN connection instead of the rs485?  I didn't want to try anything else until I got some expert advice.

thanks in advance

James

Thiis is a pictures of the setup before adding the extra battery

Here is another picture of the setup before the third battery was added

Here is a picture of the third battery added with the positive and negative cables from the inverter disconnected and also the data cable disconnected. The inverter and isolator switches also turned off.

At this point I turned on the each battery starting from the Master to the last battery and then pressed the SW Run button on the Master

Here is very short video of the batteries balacing after I pressed the SW run button on the master battery

VID_20230307_182928 - Cut.mkv

If you are using RS485, have a look at you dipswitch settings. Your photos are not clear

4 minutes ago, Superfly said:

AFAIK ... the new battery must have a similar voltage to the existing ... when connecting them in parallel - I don't think the BMS of the master is intelligent enough to balance all cells in the whole pack if the individual batteries are not of a similar voltage - The inverter can only get info from the master BMS - if it's confused so is the inverter.

@hoohloc again AFAIK (yep I'm not an expert ..as you all know  LOL)  the Pylon master gets baud rate from the slaves so dips do not have to be changed.

Contrary to popular belief the batteries do not have to be the same voltage before connecting them together. They will top balance themselves on the first full charge. As far as DIP switches go they dont have to be touched if using CAN comms,not sure about RS485,it should specify in the manual.

10 minutes ago, Nexuss said:

Contrary to popular belief the batteries do not have to be the same voltage before connecting them together. They will top balance themselves on the first full charge. As far as DIP switches go they dont have to be touched if using CAN comms,not sure about RS485,it should specify in the manual.

The OP is using RS485 and you have to change the dipswitches to select the Baud rate. The below is straight out of the User manual, page 7 and 8

 

If Using CAN, you do not have to touch the Dipswitches 

22 minutes ago, Superfly said:

AFAIK ... the new battery must have a similar voltage to the existing ... when connecting them in parallel - I don't think the BMS of the master is intelligent enough to balance all cells in the whole pack if the individual batteries are not of a similar voltage - The inverter can only get info from the master BMS - if it's confused so is the inverter.

@hoohloc again AFAIK (yep I'm not an expert ..as you all know  LOL)  the Pylon master gets baud rate from the slaves so dips do not have to be changed.

This is completely false, check the battery user manual. It says the opposite of what you just said here. The slaves take the baud rate from the master, You set the master and the slaves will follow 😂

9 minutes ago, Superfly said:

thanx - see here what's your take on this ?

hehe nice to see you are also a fan of Andy  So my take on it is that yes if you are connecting two live batteries to each other you should match voltages to avoid those big sparks/currents for sure.  But that is not what we are doing here , the pylons are all switched off when you connect them to each other and then when you switch them on they have a soft start feature which prevents excessive current from flowing between them.

BMS cable is plugged into the wrong port. That port is for battery paralleling, basically master battery top "paralleling" port needs to be empty. 

Can't remember which of the other 4 ports to connect to for RS485, but surely not the one its currently connected to

Edit - check your 2 battery pic - BMS cable was connected to middle bottom port. Do same on new master

Edit - check your 2 battery pic - BMS cable was connected to middle bottom port. Do same on new master.

Added: seems you're now also using a different BMS cable? Previous one was grey...New cable could have wrong pin connections

This is how I connected my "new" US3000C used my original BMS cable, but in top port.  Been working fine since Sept 2022. New battery charge levels initially different from "old" batteries but resolved itself within a day. 

 

Edited March 12, 20232 yr by BGb
added information

10 hours ago, markus_m2 said:

BMS cable is plugged into the wrong port. That port is for battery paralleling, basically master battery top "paralleling" port needs to be empty. 

Can't remember which of the other 4 ports to connect to for RS485, but surely not the one its currently connected to

My pictures are really bad due to the poor lighting. I have Link Port 0 on the Master empty.  Then I have Link Port 1 from the Master connected to Link Port 0 on the Slave. Then Link Port 1 on that Slave to Link Port 0 on the last battery. This is how the installers set it up with the two batteries. So I had it in the same way when adding the third battery, leaving Link Port 0 empty on the Master.  Is this incorrect?

10 hours ago, markus_m2 said:

Edit - check your 2 battery pic - BMS cable was connected to middle bottom port. Do same on new master.

Added: seems you're now also using a different BMS cable? Previous one was grey...New cable could have wrong pin connections

When you say BMS cable are you refering to the black cables that go from Link 1 to Link 0 etc.  The grey cable in the two battery picture is from the Inveter to the rs485 port.  (On online videos they seem to use the A/Can port instead but this is the way the installers did it).

On the picture with the three batteries I have disconnected this grey cable from the inverter and also the Positive and Negative power cables from the inverter. This is what I did before pressing the SW switch on the Master battery in order to start the 'Balancing'.  But after reconnecting and switchinng everything back on the inverter asked if I wanted to add a battery.

56 minutes ago, BGb said:

This is how I connected my "new" US3000C used my original BMS cable, but in top port.  Been working fine since Sept 2022. New battery charge levels initially different from "old" batteries but resolved itself within a day. 

 

My pictures are very dark but yeah I have set it up the same when I reconnected everything. Only difference is I connected the grey data cable from the inverter into the rs485 socket rather thann the A/Can socket as you have done. I did this as that's the way the installers had it.

12 minutes ago, BasalGanglia said:

My pictures are very dark but yeah I have set it up the same when I reconnected everything. Only difference is I connected the grey data cable from the inverter into the rs485 socket rather thann the A/Can socket as you have done. I did this as that's the way the installers had it.

So what is the actual problem ? i would use the CAN communication port on inverter and battery as first choice. The rest of your link cables are correct.

1 hour ago, Nexuss said:

So what is the actual problem ? i would use the CAN communication port on inverter and battery as first choice. The rest of your link cables are correct.

The problem is after switching on the inverter with everything connected it now asks if I want to add a battery. So not sure if the settings have been reset and its just a question of re-entering?  I did not want to do anything else without expert advice.

Also after leaving the batteries balacing overnight I was expecting the SOC charge lights to be lit and all the same level but non where lit. Instead just the LED light on the RUN light was flashing, alternating between each of the three batteries. Does this mean they all balanced succesfully? All the online videos I could find for these Pylontech only show you pressing the SW button with the lights flashing.

Yeah not sure why the installers used the rs485 port instead of the CAN.  

Would pressing the SW Switch again on the master but this time with the inverter cables connected and switch on, perhaps tell the inverter that the batteries are there?

 

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, BasalGanglia said:

The problem is after switching on the inverter with everything connected it now asks if I want to add a battery. So not sure if the settings have been reset and its just a question of re-entering?  I did not want to do anything else without expert advice.

Also after leaving the batteries balacing overnight I was expecting the SOC charge lights to be lit and all the same level but non where lit. Instead just the LED light on the RUN light was flashing, alternating between each of the three batteries. Does this mean they all balanced succesfully? All the online videos I could find for these Pylontech only show you pressing the SW button with the lights flashing.

When it asks you to add a battery say yes ? and enter the new capacity 222ah (74x3) .The SOC lights are only lit when they are discharging . If they are off the battery is in idle mode .

All Solved. The Solar Installers rang me, got me to connect to the Inverter on my phone then did something at their end. All up and running now.  Thanks everyone for the info.

On 2023/03/11 at 10:14 AM, BasalGanglia said:

Here is a picture of the third battery added with the positive and negative cables from the inverter disconnected and also the data cable disconnected. The inverter and isolator switches also turned off.

At this point I turned on the each battery starting from the Master to the last battery and then pressed the SW Run button on the Master

 

On 2023/03/11 at 10:14 AM, BasalGanglia said:

Here is a picture of the third battery added with the positive and negative cables from the inverter disconnected and also the data cable disconnected. The inverter and isolator switches also turned off.

At this point I turned on the each battery starting from the Master to the last battery and then pressed the SW Run button on the Master

 TargetElectrical - Good day, i do not see the master communication cable connected in the photo with the 3 batteries. (With pylontech it is normal for all lights to be off, aslong as the run light on all the batteries flash every once in a while, there is nothing to be worried about, they are on).